when brian caster While 2021 marked a major milestone in his broadcasting career as he landed the career-defining job for many at ESPN, there was one thing he couldn't compromise on when it came to life outside of a world leader.
He intended to continue his work as host of Showtime Championship Boxing.
“For me, boxing is the theater of life,” Custer said. “A lot of times, because we're all in the ring, can we adjust? Can we get hits and can we be successful? We're going to get taken down. Are we going to bounce back? I love it. I love this sport because it's like life and there's nothing better. I have so much respect for the athletes and I love this sport so much that I plan on doing it until the day I die. And , believe me, I love everything about working for a world leader, but I always want to supplement it with some sweet science.”
ESPN is fully supportive of Custer continuing to work in boxing, and when he was mixing fight nights with Sports Center hosting and college sports call-up nights, everything turned out to be a well-oiled machine. It was moving like.
Until it isn't. Late last year, Showtime pulled out of the boxing industry, and Custer lost the job he loved through no fault of his own. But he didn't sit idle for long. In fact, he didn't sit around doing nothing, the only thing he was missing was boxing. Then, in early December, it was announced that Premier Boxing Champions had signed a deal with Amazon Prime to televise their matches. Then rumors started about who the broadcast team for the new venture would be, and as Michael Corleone said in the third installment of the Godfather series, “Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.” ”
“Well, let me tell you, I don't think I ever left here,” Custer laughed. “While we were obviously disappointed that Paramount decided to shut down Showtime Sports, we always felt we would come back and work on what we are passionate about and love. I was there.”
On Saturday, Custer will resume hosting the card featuring Tim Tzu's fight against Sebastian Fundora, with Mauro Ranallo, Abner Mares, Joe Goossen, Claudia Trejos and Jordan Plant also joining the new platform. And since all of the names are familiar to fighting fans, it's clear that they don't want to fix what's not broken, and at the same time, they want to bring in a fresh audience. So expect a mix of old and new this weekend and beyond.
“I felt like Showtime Championship Boxing was the standard without a doubt,” Custer said. “I think Amazon feels like, yeah, we want to do something different, and it’s a different medium. In response, they want to be different. And I think that's what they believe in. They don't want to be like Showtime. And they look at it that way. I think this is something fresh, something new, and we want to make it that way. So the reason for that is that Showtime has a few people on the air. They'll be there, but not all of them. That's because they wanted a new look, a new cast. It's going to be a different production than we've seen on Showtime Championship Boxing.”
But if Showtime sets the standard, Custer hopes his new team will raise the bar. That's what the 53-year-old has always tried to do, and why his work is respected in the sporting world. That includes his popular podcast, The Last Stand with Brian Custer, which was also an unfortunate casualty of Showtime's exit from the boxing industry. However, after a brief hiatus, Custer also plans to return in 2024.
“The next thing I'm working on is finding a good production company to help me produce it and bring back good content,” Custer said. “We were fortunate that Showtime saw the value in this work and invested heavily in its production. I wanted to maintain that high quality. When can I ride?'' I received a message. And, yeah, that's what I'm working on right now, talking to some production companies, really trying to get this back on track and get it back on track. ”
This is good news for martial arts fans other than Custer, who returns to the host desk. Because “The Last Stand” gave us an up-close look at some of the most intriguing figures in the game, including Deontay Wilder, Gervonta Davis and Saul “Canelo.” Alvarez, Errol Spence Jr., and “Sugar” Ray Leonard.
“I think we’ve quickly established ourselves as the premier boxing podcast,” he said. “I was really proud of the fact that the men wanted to come in and talk freely, which is something they don't do with other people, and I love that. And the athletes from different sports… It got even better when he said, “I want to appear, too.'' So, guys, whether it was Mika Parsons or Damian Lillard, they came up like, “Hey, I love boxing, but I also want to talk about other things.” Well, without a doubt, I would love to get this back on track and talk about boxing and other things as well. ”
Custer's reason for attracting top-notch guests and getting them to open up to them is simple. Because he's a professional and he cares about being fair. That doesn't mean avoiding difficult questions. That means giving your audience a chance to answer questions and tell their side of the story. In today's media environment, that's what separates Custer from a vast array of competitors.
“I think anyone can listen to podcasts now, but here's the difference,” Custer said. “Not everyone can have these high-level guests. It's because, as you pointed out, people know that I've been in this business long and, more importantly, I'm able to bring in these high-level guests. I think it's because they know they're going to be hospitable.'' Quite a bit. It was funny to me that when I first started the podcast, people were like, “Oh, he's only going to interview PBC fighters or fighters that were on Showtime.” No, I wanted to interview you all because I love sports. That was all. So I showed it to everyone, and I think people who saw it thought, “Oh, I get it.'' Damn, I rock with this cat. And that opened the floodgates and eventually everyone came on board and wanted to be a part of it. a) like you said, I've been in this business a long time, and b) they knew I didn't have an agenda. I was more interested in talking to them than anyone else because I didn't have many opportunities to engage with them because of network politics. So I had favorite fighters who were in Top Rank, I had favorite fighters who fought on DAZN, and I wanted to talk to them and see what they were like. I will fight. And then we started the conversation and they were like, “Oh, I love this.” And I loved it too. ”
And he still does. On Saturday, he'll do it all over again. Like he never left. I asked him if it would be appropriate to tell him to break his leg this weekend.
he laughed.
“Hey, whenever I compete, I'm going to give you my best,” Custer said. “So I'm grateful for that and that's what I'm going to do.”
